Bald Cypress
Taxodium distichum
Bald Cypress is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Mature size, hardiness zones, sun and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant. The bloom months and water need on this page were not.
Growing Bald Cypress
Plant it in full sun. It prefers high water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–9. Expect it to reach about 59 ft tall and 26 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 20 years.
When to plant Bald Cypress
Plant Bald Cypress in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. For the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 9 range, that is March to May, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar: for the middle of its range, start with zone 6 in March.
Comes in 3 varieties
Same plant, same care - pick the variety you are growing.
Good to know about Bald Cypress
Curated from university extensions, botanic gardens and other primary sources, with the source named on every note.
Worth knowing
Unlike almost all conifers, it is deciduous: the feathery needles turn rusty in autumn and drop, which is the origin of the name 'bald', then flush green in spring. per NC State
Zone range varies by source
NC State gives 4a to 9b, Morton 4 to 11, Clemson 5 to 11. The differences reflect cultivar and provenance; a mild zone 4 needs a northern-hardy selection. per NC State
Thrives from swamp to street
This swamp native is remarkably adaptable: it handles standing water and prolonged flooding, yet also grows in dry, compacted, polluted urban soil far from any water. per Clemson
Cypress knees in wet sites
Planted in or beside standing water, its roots throw up woody cone-shaped 'knees', 0.3 to 1 m tall in gardens. In ordinary well-drained soil they rarely form. per Clemson and USDA
Alkaline soil turns it yellow
Its one clear limit is chemistry, not water: high-pH alkaline soil starves it of iron and yellows the foliage (chlorosis). Give it acidic to neutral ground. per NC State
Remarkably few serious pests
One of the cleaner big landscape trees: no major disease and only cosmetic pests (bagworms, spider mites, twig gall midge), none that kill a healthy tree. per NC State and Clemson
What pairs well with Bald Cypress
Good companions share its growing conditions and add something it lacks: an earlier or later bloom, a lower carpet in front, or structure through winter.
Joe Pye Weed
Shares full sun and high water; its seed heads stand through winter, for structure and the birds; both are native plants.
Perennial Sunflower
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; its seed heads stand through winter, for structure and the birds; both are native plants.
Arborvitae
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; both are native plants.
False Sunflower
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; its seed heads stand through winter, for structure and the birds; both are native plants.
Feather Reed Grass
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; its seed heads stand through winter, for structure and the birds.
Boxwood
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter.
Douglas Fir
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; both are native plants.
Eastern White Pine
Shares full sun and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; both are native plants.
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